Islamabad’s new counter-terror policy

February 27, 2014 - 5:23:18 am

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday unveiled its first ever counter-terrorism policy after battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for more than a decade, announcing that every act of militant violence would be met with retaliation on their bases.

Interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced the “national security policy” before parliament a day after it was formally approved by the cabinet, ending years of waiting for a set of unified rules of engagement for terrorism.

The move comes as talks between the government and the Taliban that began earlier this month have stalled following the killing of 23 soldiers being held by militants.

Pakistan has responded by carrying out a series of deadly air strikes in the northwest that have left over 100 militants dead.

Khan said the shelling was in line with the government’s new policy and that strikes would continue alongside efforts to negotiate with the Taliban.

“We have made a significant shift in our policy, now we will react to each and every act of terrorism in the country with an attack on the headquarters of the militants along the Afghan border,” he said.